'17 annual budget up for approval

Norwalk city council could approve the annual budget during tonight’s meeting.

A second reading will be before council members.

“We have a pretty healthy fund balance right now,” Norwalk Safety-Service Director Dan Wendt said. “To be honest, we are going to be fine for a few years. We’re not predicting problems in the future.”

However, the city expects utility costs and consumer products to go up.

“We expect that to continue,” Wendt said.

In 2017, the expected revenue is $20,816 million and the expenditures are $22,814,587.50.

“We don’t expect our departments to spend every penny in every line item. That helps with a healthy carryover,” Wendt said.

“We really picked it apart. We made a lot of cuts. We scrutinized a lot of capital expenditures,” the safety-service director added.

The city is trying to avoid asking council for “supplementals” (additional requests for money in the budget), Wendt said, and wants departments to extend the life of their resources instead of purchasing new equipment.